Last week’s fire near Diamond Lake has left a “post-apocalyptic landscape” in a popular rock climbing area.

Authorities were alerted to the scrub fire at approximately 9.30pm on Monday October 7, approximately 10km from Wanaka. 

Fire crews from Wanaka, Luggate, Dunstan, and Arrowtown attended the blaze, in which an estimated 75-100 hectares of scrub were burnt.

Rock climbing has become an increasingly popular sport with many climbers tackling the routes in the area around Hospital Flat, the Mount Aspiring Road straight approaching the Diamond Lake turnoff. Some climbing gear left on the cliffs was destroyed - melted - in the fire, but the fixed anchors remained safe, Wanaka Rock Climbing Club spokesperson Ed Nepia said.

The fire burnt an estimated 75-100 hectares of scrub. PHOTO: Supplied

“The biggest impact is the loss of the vegetation we’ve watched grow back over the past ten to 15 years,” he said.

The area had previously been mainly bracken, but the first phase of native species regeneration has been going well - until now, he said.

“The ambience around some of the crags is pretty post-apocalyptic,” Ed said. “It looked like the fire went through relatively fast and relatively hot.”

He said the climbing club would have to recreate some of the access tracks to the crags, but said “the biggest thing it’s shown us is how vulnerable that place is.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire is still underway.

“We’ve got no evidence to suggest it’s suspicious,” FENZ spokesperson Mark Mawhinney said. “It’s quite possible that we’ll never really know what happened.”